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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rounded up, more like 3.5. This took way too long to really tell the story. I enjoyed all the layers, although I did figure out the first twist pretty early. I thought the last 1/4 of the book was the most interesting and the part that seemed rushed.
I couldn't engage with this and really didn't like the MC
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’ve never read this author before but I will again. The twists and turns were incredible.
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I would like to thank the Goodreads reviewer who provided the advice that allowed me to finish this book.
This is a dual-timeline book, following an old unresolved crime in South Australia and a modern-day journalist with family ties to the area who finds herself digging into the past. I really liked the South Australia setting, and the scenes set in the past timeline. But the modern timeline dragged, especially since much of the main character’s research involved reading passages from a tedious book-within-a-book. I mean pages and pages and pages of it!
This book was so interminably slow that I kept checking my percentage progress on my Kindle, like “surely something’s going to happen now?” But no.
Then I checked Goodreads reviews to see if anyone else felt the same. (Sometimes GR is useful!) And came upon this advice: “3 stars for the first 400 pages, 4 stars for the last 100.”
So after 200 pages in, I SKIPPED AHEAD to begin the last 100. (Does this count as finishing the book? IDK. Discuss.) I skipped 200 pages and didn’t miss much at all. That’s not a rave review of the content or the editing, which should have cut things down and tightened it up.
It was worth finishing - I’d figured out most of the resolution to the mystery, but there was one slight twist I hadn’t. But overall the execution of the story didn’t work for me.
This is a dual-timeline book, following an old unresolved crime in South Australia and a modern-day journalist with family ties to the area who finds herself digging into the past. I really liked the South Australia setting, and the scenes set in the past timeline. But the modern timeline dragged, especially since much of the main character’s research involved reading passages from a tedious book-within-a-book. I mean pages and pages and pages of it!
This book was so interminably slow that I kept checking my percentage progress on my Kindle, like “surely something’s going to happen now?” But no.
Then I checked Goodreads reviews to see if anyone else felt the same. (Sometimes GR is useful!) And came upon this advice: “3 stars for the first 400 pages, 4 stars for the last 100.”
So after 200 pages in, I SKIPPED AHEAD to begin the last 100. (Does this count as finishing the book? IDK. Discuss.) I skipped 200 pages and didn’t miss much at all. That’s not a rave review of the content or the editing, which should have cut things down and tightened it up.
It was worth finishing - I’d figured out most of the resolution to the mystery, but there was one slight twist I hadn’t. But overall the execution of the story didn’t work for me.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The mystery aspect of the story is not that strong and overall it does need some time to get going, but the characters, the setting and everything else was great.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No